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Myo readers ask:
Are cheat meals is pretty much anything good to go as long as it fits the meal macros? What do you typically eat for them? Haven't hit the point where I even feel like I need one yet, but I can imagine how the cravings would get pretty intense on a fat loss diet.
Justin Harris:
You don't have to fit the meal macros. The cheat meal is a fully free meal. It's one meal where you don't have to worry about macros. When dieting, it's your chance to get all the cravings out of your system so that we don't have an excuses to fall off plan the rest of the week. In the offseason, it's a chance to get a high calorie meal in when appetite might be low--as well as to get any and all cravings out of your system so you don't have any excuse for not sticking to the food list the rest of the week. As for what I typically eat; it depends on how hungry I am. When dieting for a contest, I'll be starving...so the cheats turn into a bigger meal....as much as a large pizza and tub of ice cream. When I'm not dieting, I'm not as hungry so the cheats basically just turn into a meal where I don't have to count macros. I typically get Thai food or sushi.
Ben Pollack:
First, I want to preface my thoughts with a disclaimer: I believe Justin's approach is the ideal one. The thing is, ideal in theory doesn't always translate that well in real life. Personally, if I'm not really depleted and try to actually cheat, I'll feel like absolute trash the next day — and that's not worth it to me. So I'll have what I call "clean cheats," which are basically healthy foods that I don't normally eat that still fall within the macros I'm allotted for a meal. Lately, that's been a pint of Arctic Zero and a couple of zucchini muffins by Veggies Made Great. That's about 80 grams of carbs, no protein and 4 grams fat — so it's easy to work into my macros.